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BON VOYAGE . . . Zimbabwe ODI cricket captain Elton Chigumbura (left) and teammate Tinashe Panyangara are caught up in a discussion at Harare International Airport yesterday shortly before they left the country for a lengthy tour of Bangladesh

Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
DAVID COLTART, the former Sports Minister, dragged Zimbabwe Cricket into a raging racism storm yesterday when he accused the organisation of racial prejudice after all-rounder Sean Williams was left out of the national team’s tour of Bangladesh.
Coltart used his Twitter and Facebook accounts to demand that ZC explain the absence of Williams from the touring party and insinuated that racism had elbowed the all-rounder out of the team that will take on Bangladesh.

The Bulawayo lawyer and politician also wanted ZC officials to explain whether it had become policy, in the new dispensation, that only three white players could feature in the team at a given time.

“Since the new coaching/selection regime took over in #Zimbabwe #Cricket, no team has featured more than 3 white players — is this policy?” Coltart tweeted, before turning to Williams.

“Williams was arguably one of our best players in the recent Aus/SA series and it is incomprehensible why he has been excluded from the team.

“Williams also is one of the best players of spin and his spin bowling suits the Bangladesh conditions — #Zimbabwe #Cricket, explain yourself.”

The inflammatory posts whipped emotions among a number of his followers on Twitter and friends on Facebook with some aiming their guns at the ZC selectors and management and accusing them of dragging cricket backwards.

Neil Ferreira, responding to the posts, questioned whether this meant that more players would leave, Pat Buckle said Williams scored two “fifties against South Africa and bowled very well against all the teams (and) the conditions suit him in Bangladesh” while Joseph Kuhudzai said all players “should be given a chance to play for Zim,” and there was “need to move from these racial policies.”

Misheck Hakulandaba said it was “disappointing if that’s the case” and wondered “why are the selectors not going on merit,” adding that his “heart breaks when we lose” with Nibbs saying “it is so frustrating to see quality players like Williams left out due to racial issues,” and Hassan Imran VI saying “selection criteria should be based on performance rather than colour/race #ZimCricket is seriously taking 10 steps back.”

NewsDay Sports Editor, Wellington Toni, also plunged into the discussion arguing that when his newspaper wrote that the Zimbabwe national team had become a boys’ club, they were criticised and he questioned why “a team is named just hours before they leave, what’s there to hide?”

Zimbabwe Cricket convener of selectors, Givemore Makoni, said their selection policies were not influenced by race, but by merit and said he was surprised that Coltart didn’t make the same noise when black players like Elton Chigumbura, as was the case ahead of the one-off Test against South Africa, and Tinashe Panyangara, during the ODI Triangular, were left out of the team for one reason or another.

“If there is anyone who has to worry about his racist tendencies then we believe it’s the one who just sees issues when it’s white players who are involved and turn a blind eye when we leave out Elton from a Test match against South Africa, because he is not bowling, and we sanction Panyangara, for disciplinary reasons, during the triangular,” Makoni told The Herald.

“If it happens to Elton and Panyangara then it’s not an issue because they are black players, but if it happens to their teammate, who is of a different colour, then these people are quick to raise the race card and that is very unfortunate.

“It’s sad that there are some people who are still seeing this team in terms of black and white players when it’s just supposed to be a team of players regardless of the colour of their skin and one wonders what else do these people tell some of these players, away from the public platforms, and how much that is destablising our team.

“We pick the team purely on performance and not the colour of the skin of the players, but it appears there are some people among us who are so obsessed with this race issue they will always see shadows everywhere and it’s very unfortunate.”

Makoni said the same people who were accusing them of waving a racist card were not asking why Craig Ervine was picked into the team, why Greg Lamb was allowed to train with the team and stake his claim for a place and why PJ Moor, who was not in the original squad, pushed his way into the ODI team after his good performance in training.

“This youngster, PJ Moor, came and let his bat do the talking with his century and he earned his place in the ODI team, on merit, and not because of the colour of his skin,” said Makoni.

“The same people who are accusing us of racism aren’t asking why we are picking someone who was not initially part of the squad.

“These racism issues are just used to suit certain agendas and it’s sad that they come from the very same sources all the time.”

Makoni said Williams did not do enough, during the training camp, to earn his place in the team.

“Williams excused himself from the team training camp in Harare, saying he wanted to attend to a bereavement in the family, and was given days to go home and he then advised the team coach that another member of his family had also passed away and he needed more time away.

“Wayne James was in town then, assisting Steve (Mangongo) with the coaching duties and we asked him to call the Williams family to express our condolences and that’s when we got the shock news that no one had actually passed away,” said Makoni.

“Sean came back to the spin camp, three days before the team left for Triangle, and was told by the coach that he was going to travel with the squad to Triangle, but since he had been AWOL, he would be subject to a hearing where the convener would be present.

“That’s when everything exploded with Sean kicking stumps in anger and abusing the coach with language that wasn’t appropriate and then telling him that he was quitting because he had a lot going on in his head. He then called the coach, around midnight, to apologise for his behaviour and I think we have to commend the coach for not reacting to all the abuse that he was subjected to.

“But the point is that we can’t have special conditions for one player and Sean is not in the team because he wasn’t there when his teammates were putting a lot of hours and days to prepare for the tour.”